DNA Testing: A New Tool in Genealogy

As many of you know, JewishGen has a long standing partnership with Family Tree DNA, and DNATraits to enhance Jewish Genealogy research.

Family Tree DNA offers a revolutionary strategy for advancing your genealogy research, while DNATraits offers the world's most comprehensive Ashkenazi-inherited disease panel, at a fraction of prices found elsewhere. Click the links above for more information about these services.

On the same topic, the following article was recently published in Chicago (home of the upcoming IAJGS conference) which should prove interesting and motivating for those who have been unsure about taking the test up to this point.

A cheek swab solved a mystery for a man whose only known background was in the southern United States.

Jack Kane, a Wisconsin computer programmer, completed a DNA test two years ago. His father, Gordon, was abandoned as a toddler in a New York City office building in 1926 and later adopted. Gordon Kane, now 82, had no information about his biological family until Jack made a strong match with Karsen two months ago.

Karsen and the younger Kane are likely cousins, but testing can’t determine how many generations back the connection was made.

While Gordon Kane's family had guessed from his appearance that he was of Jewish background, he was “really astounded” when he heard the news of the match, according to his son.

“It gives me more of a sense of completion,” Jack Kane said. “My mother’s from the South, and we know our heritage very well…But with my dad, it was always kind of a black hole. It gave me a sense of clarity, to say, ‘Yes, that’s the part of the world I’m from.’”

Genealogy research has become popular in recent years as online services and the digitization of immigration and other records have made searching easier. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in 2006 a quarter of Internet users had researched their genealogy or family history online.

The hobby is particularly growing among those with Jewish roots; the database at the popular Jewishgen.org is searched more than 40,000 times per month. (Medill)